Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Sunday that his country is not seeking nuclear weapons and does not need military-grade uranium.

“We do not want nuclear weapons,” he said on ABC’s “This Week. “We believe nuclear weapons are detrimental to our security.”

Mr. Zarif rejected Israel’s assertion that Iran is only months away from having a nuclear weapon, saying the country is not seeking such weapons, “so we’re not six months, six years, 60 years away from nuclear weapons.”

Mr. Zarif’s comments came in the midst of a re-energized effort to resolve the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program. President Barack Obama and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke by telephone Friday, marking the first time in three decades that the leaders of the two countries have spoken.

On Sunday, Mr. Zarif called for the end of what he described as illegal sanctions and said Iran would be willing to open its nuclear facilities to international observers.

Secretary of State John Kerry has laid out steps Iran could take, such as agreeing to cease uranium enrichment above a certain level. In response to those suggestions, Mr. Zarif said only that Iran is prepared to start negotiating but would not do so on television.

“I’m sure Secretary Kerry does not want to dictate to us what we should or shouldn’t do,” he said. “We are willing to engage in negotiations.”

While Mr. Zarif said Iran does not need military-grade uranium, he said his country’s right to enrich uranium is non-negotiable. He said Iranians are willing to forgive the U.S. after decades of tensions but would not forget that history.

Mr. Zarif also addressed questions about whether Iranian leaders acknowledge and condemn the Holocaust. He said the Holocaust was genocide and a heinous crime that “must never be allowed to be repeated.”

Asked about a statement on the English-language website of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that refers to the myth of the Holocaust, Mr. Zarif characterized the phrase as a “bad translation,” saying that the Holocaust was not a myth.

“This is a problem when you translate something from Persian to English, you may lose something,” he said.

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